Restrictions on definiteness in second language acquisition : Affirmative and negative existentials in the L2 English of Turkish and Russian speakers
In this paper we investigate whether learners of L2 English show knowledge of the Definiteness Effect (Milsark, 1977), which restricts definite expressions from appearing in the existential there-insertion construction. There are cross-linguistic differences in how restrictions on definiteness play out. In English, definite expressions may not occur in either affirmative or negative existentials (
